Pepsi Center Case Study 1.10.11

Pepsi Center
Sport and Entertainment Media Case Study
CUSTOMER QUOTE:
“The benefi ts of the shared storage system
are huge. Previously, we had three separate
systems that made it very ineffi cient to share
content. We were wasting a lot of time bringing
content in from various video sources.”
LUKE HOWELL
Chief Engineer - Broadcast Services
KSE Media Ventures, Pepsi Center
BACKGROUND
The Pepsi Center, one of the nation’s fi nest sports and entertainment
facilities, represents the best of Colorado and
the Rocky Mountain West. Privately owned and operated,
groundbreaking for Pepsi Center took place on November
20, 1997. Since opening October 1, 1999 with a sold-out
performance by Celine Dion, Pepsi Center has hosted a
wide variety of events including hockey and basketball
games, musical acts, ice extravaganzas and circuses. The
Pepsi center is home to the Denver Nuggets NBA, Colorado
Avalanche NHL, as well as the Colorado Mammoth Lacrosse,
and the previous indoor football team the Colorado
Crush.
Luke Howell, Chief Engineer - Broadcast Services, KSE
Media Ventures, Pepsi Center is responsible for content
creation and management of the creative staff at the Pepsi
center. Luke has seen signifi cant growth in multimedia
post production activity, demand for more media types, the
need to work collaboratively on projects. All these needs
pointed to a need for change in the supporting IT infrastructure,
specifi cally for a shared storage solution.
For the last ten years, the Pepsi Center had employed linear
editing techniques that utilize tape based systems for
storage and as the content source for common elements.
But over time, there has been more demand for newer video
formats, including HD and web video. In addition, more
editors has meant greater need to share media - fueling a
desire to transition from a linear editing world to a serverbased
non-linear editing solutions with shared storage.

Pepsi Center Case Study
Seeking expert systems, service, and solutions, Howell
enlisted GW Hannaway & Associates to consult and supply
the needed IT advancements. For over 30 years, GWH&A
has been providing solutions for the imaging and multimedia
marketplace. Whether it’s creating professional
imaging systems, custom integration, fi lm and video services,
or product development, GWH&A has consistently
been at the forefront of emerging technologies.
Original Environment
All systems in the video post production were linear
editing standalone systems by Avid, which were unable
to share storage. Utilizing the video content developed
with the Sony Beta tape editing stations each editor had
access to a workstation with Avid Symphony to complete
projects yielding content stored and delivered on tape. All
content remained on tape for future use with new video
projects. As demand increased the project management
became cumbersome as editors found themselves waiting
in line to utilize the limited video tape resources. Movement
to a shared storage solution where content is accessible
by all editors at any given time was clearly the right
direction to take.
New Environment
• All systems in the new video post production moved to Mac-based
workstations. On all of the video systems, the Pepsi Center has
two network feeds: the public network which is the corporate network
and a private network which is the Dot Hill SAN network.
• The Post Production group has a four seat shared storage solution
all running Final Cut Pro software suite.
• All users are sharing the Dot Hill storage.
• One workstation dedicated for use by freelancers to primarily
migration video content on tape to the Dot Hill disk arrays.
• There are two Xserve servers all running the Xsan fi le system over
a 4Gb Fibre SAN.
• Now in places are two 24 TB DHS AssuredSAN 3720 systems to
handle the storage data protection demands with 32TB usable
data storage. This replaces ~ 5TB of storage with the previous IT
infrastructure.
• High bandwidth Fibre Channel SAN network for the bandwidth to
support various forms of HD video.
Justifi cation for the IT expenditures to install a new approach
post production included:
• Increased demand for HD commercial spots.
• Increased demand for Video based Web content to support the
multiple professional teams that are home to the Pepsi Center.
• The birth of Altitude Sports as a partner to the Pepsi Center post
production team requires the movement to multiple video output
formats.
• Drastic increase in projects is driving corresponding storage
demand.
“The ability for us to share content is one of the big decision
factors in going to a Dot Hill shared storage solution.
Also, having a compatible system with Altitude Sports &
Entertainment, our affi liate company, makes it easy to
exchange video content quickly,” stated, Luke Howell.
Results
The Pepsi Center upgraded from ~ 5TB to 48TB of storage
capacity. Use of common elements and shared digital
content resulted in more effi cient use of storage capacity.
In addition, the number of projects that can be supported
has grown allowing the teams to be much more
productive. The workfl ow mindset has changed, rendering
times reduced, increased formats supported, resulting
in expansion of customer projects. The staff at the Pepsi
Center are excited about the change and the opportunity
to future proof their IT infrastructure with the Dot Hill
AssuredSAN array.

Pepsi Center Case Study
CUSTOMER BENEFITS AND OUTCOMES
Shared media has increased productivity
New systems support many more digital
formats
Fibre Channel SAN has speeded workfl
ows
Editors can collaborate in real time
Post ProductionTeam Quotes
“The ability to share content with another editor without
moving data to external storage devices was a signifi cant
breakthrough to enable us to handle the increased workload
of projects.”
“Since installing the Dot Hill storage array, there has been
no interruption in workfl ow.”
“Now people can collaborate on the same project simultaneously,
or at staggered times. Anyone can log in to any of
the edit suites and continue working on the project. This
makes our post-production studio much more fl exible and
has cut down on overtime expenses.”
AssuredSAN TM 3000
The AssuredSAN arrays are equipped with 2.5-inch drives
or 3.5-inch drives, supporting mixed drive confi gurations
of SAS, SATA, and SSDs. AssuredSAN arrays also features
a number of eco-friendly enhancements such as energy
saving drive-spin-down and Dot Hill’s patented EcoStor
battery-free alternative for cache memory, which leverages
a combination of super capacitors and fl ash memory
that outlasts traditional batteries nearly fi vefold. Dot Hill’s
AssuredSAN 3000 Series arrays are easy to confi gure
and manage via the RAIDar 2.0 intuitive web-based interface
which provides storage setup and monitoring without
the need for host-based software. AssuredSAN users
gain confi guration and installation effi ciencies via wizards
and schedulers for snapshots and replication. Optional
AssuredSnap, AssuredCopy, and AssuredRemote
data protection software is available offering necessary
protection for business-critical applications. AssuredSnap
and AssuredCopy data protection software can be easily
added at the point of sale or afterwards, through the Try &
Buy menu in the management interface.
For more information about Dot Hill Systems,
visit www.dothill.com.
The Pepsi Center’s website is located at
www.pepsicenter.com.
“The benefi ts of the shared storage system are huge. Previously,
we had three separate systems that made it very
ineffi cient to share content. We were wasting a lot of time
bringing content in from various video sources.”
“The fact that we went with 8Gb/s Fibre Channel storage
provided huge savings. This drastically increased productivity
and effi ciency within the post-production staff.”
© 2010 Copyright Dot Hill Systems Corporation. All rights reserved. Dot Hill
Systems Corp., Dot Hill, the DotHill logo, and AssuredSAN, AssuredCopy, and
AssuredRemote, and AssuredSnap are trademarks or registred trademarks
of Dot Hill Systems. All other trademarks are the property of their respective
companies in the United States and/or other countries. 12.28.10